Theme: Wellness Toolbox BingoDates: May 2nd - June 1stPublic Card: YesOpen Card/Amnesty: YesFills: Anything goes. Remember to use your content warnings! Prizes: banners will be available at the end of the month and beyond.

If you'd like to sponsor a particular square, especially if you have an idea for what character, series, or situation it would fit -- talk to me and we'll work something out. This is a good opportunity for those of you with favorites that don't always mesh well with the themes of my monthly projects. I may still post some of the fills for free, because I'm using this to attract new readers; but if it brings in money, that means I can do more of it. That's part of why I'm crossing some of the bingo prompts with other projects, such as the Poetry Fishbowl.Underlined prompts have been filled.

>> Just out of curiosity . . . does Steel from Polychrome Heroics count as a 'gentleman in distress'? <<

Well, let's see ... whalers murdered his family, twice, and tried to kill and eat him on multiple occasions. Then when he finally found a place that people said would be safe, more whalers showed up, shot at him and his partner again, and ran over him with a boat. So yes, Steel is definitely in distress. Gentleman? We can be flexible about that part. He didn't swallow anyone.

>> Because he'd totally benefit from at least half of these. <<

Yes, he would. The trick is convincing him to try any of them. Steel has been hurt so often that it's very difficult for him to trust anyone.

By all means, pick a favorite and pitch it during the fishbowl. They've got to try something to cheer him up after that attack, he's miserable.

It really breaks the story sometimes. I frequently ask myself why I'm reading something if it's just going to be more tragedy!porn. There's no upswing. It's turtles all the way down. Who wants to read that, non-stop? If that's all there is, why even write it? There's enough misery manifest already. :P

I like hurt/comfort best. What can I say, Master Tolkien ruined me for straight torture!pr0n. You can crank the intensity so much higher when you cycle through hurt and comfort. And at the end you get warmfuzzies.

On the other hoof, I also enjoy schadenfreude. It's fun to torment characters who are assholes, and watch karma stomp on them. Because then the nature of their wickedness informs the particular type of just desserts they get, and that's what makes it fun.

I've had some good luck with that kind of comparison/contrast. The most common seem to be trauma + good EFA = superhero (Damask, trauma + bad environment = supervillain (Farce, Haboob). But there are some who chose each without any trauma (Stalwart Stan, Dvorak), some trauma + bad environment = superhero (The Rescuer), and some trauma + good EFA = supervillain (Green Man). I'm fascinating by how the environment can contribute, and how it sometimes doesn't.